He could transmute metals into either gold or silver using a red or silver powder. Demonstrated many times and presented some gold he made to King George III. Committed suicide when told to demonstrate it to officials:

The Alchemists were important precursors to modern chemistry so they deserve some respect. However the fact he committed suicide and was never able to prove his abilities in front of witnesses is tragic. I must admit to a certain amount of healthy scepticism on the literal transmutation of 'base' substances into 'precious' gold, as I lean more towards the internal alchemy of the Far East, where the idea first seems to have cropped up. But apparently at least one, very famous ,Chinese emperor was fixated on discovering the secret of literal alchemy and gaining immortality via it. I think that's how we got the Terracotta army and lakes of mercury under the artificial hill in his burial complex.

Lewk wrote:The Alchemists were important precursors to modern chemistry so they deserve some respect. However the fact he committed suicide and was never able to prove his abilities in front of witnesses is tragic. I must admit to a certain amount of healthy scepticism on the literal transmutation of 'base' substances into 'precious' gold, as I lean more towards the internal alchemy of the Far East, where the idea first seems to have cropped up. But apparently at least one, very famous ,Chinese emperor was fixated on discovering the secret of literal alchemy and gaining immortality via it. I think that's how we got the Terracotta army and lakes of mercury under the artificial hill in his burial complex.

Other chance is he didn’t want them to discover it at the same time, because in many accounts before he did use the two types of powders to do it.

Because many previous accounts before that showed him doing it, and there’s also the gold piece he created that he gave to King George III which is more solid proof. If they can find it maybe they can see what happened.

I have issues with the inability to reproduce results in front of witnesses, largely because sleight-of-hand is a thing, and has been since time immemorial. Suicide might’ve looked like the only viable option to him, perhaps, if he perceived that he’d bitten off more than he could chew. It might’ve been preferable to going to prison for fraud, in his eyes.

Likes2Read wrote:I have issues with the inability to reproduce results in front of witnesses, largely because sleight-of-hand is a thing, and has been since time immemorial. Suicide might’ve looked like the only viable option to him, perhaps, if he perceived that he’d bitten off more than he could chew. It might’ve been preferable to going to prison for fraud, in his eyes.

Yeah but what about the gold piece he produced given to George III, and the many demonstrations done before the one where they made him do it before a certain group?

How do we know it wasn’t to keep something a secret? Not saying that this wasn’t the case but this also should be considered.

Aurum wrote:Isn't it possible that all this turning lead into gold is more of a spiritual metaphor than an actual thing?

There is a rumoured substance that could apparently make certain metals take on gold-like properties (become ‘alchemical gold’) if used in forging them, while if ingested can make a person astral project at the same time?

I may have found it but didn’t think it relates to James Price’s case if he produced ‘chemical gold and silver’.

Sleight-of-hand is still a thing that mustn’t be ruled out. I’m not taking the James Randi stance that nothing paranormal exists and it’s ALL flim-flam; if I thought that, I wouldn’t be here. But there are reasons why Randi, the late Johnny Carson, and others experienced in magic of the prestidigitation variety want to watch closely when someone claims to be doing a metaphysical thing. They know just what to look for, and in some cases of fraud, know the very same tricks and how to do them on stage. Untrained eyes might not pick up on deception, but they would spot a ruse a mile away.

And it’s possible there are, or were, individuals who’d sooner die than be outed, especially in the times when “death before dishonor” was a life goal, not just an expression.

Looks like all credible sources agree that low energy transmutation is not possible. You can transmute if you have, say, a particle collider or some other way to manipulate things at a nuclear level, but it flat out cannot be done by just mixing substances my hand in this manner.